Violent Deer

Friday, August 05, 2005

Interview with one of the victims

Our group topic, “Violent Deer”, is about accidents that occurred on SIU campus this June. While people were walking in Thompson Woods, deer attacked people and injured them. That accident occurred successively. The total number of victims is seven, of which four were sent to hospital. Some of the causes of these accidents are human’s fault. Some people tried to touch a fawn. Another person tried to encourage a fawn to cross the street. However, some people were just walking and didn’t do anything.

On July 29th, I could interview with one of the victims. She is a secretary of SIU and the third victim of the accident. At that time, she was walking in Thompson Woods to the Agriculture Building. When she heard something in the woods, she looked back. There was a deer charging. The deer knocked her down on the ground and kicked her repeatedly. Eventually, she injured her back and knees and was cut behind her ear. She says she did nothing to the deer. She was just walking. “I understand the deer was so aggressive. Of course I’m angry at the deer sometimes. But I’m more angry at SIU”, she says. She mentions that SIU has not done anything to prevent the accident since it occurred. If the students and the other faculties are threatened to be injured, SIU must take deer to another wild wood, she claims. “It is good for human and deer”, she says. Before I heard the story, I thought that to live with on campus is good for deer. However, now I think this is not the best way for a solution. The wild animals and humans can’t live together at the same place in any way. Some people say the over-population of deer is the cause of these accidents. The best way of solution is taking them to another wood far away from humans. SIU should start working by the next fawning season. “I think it is good that there is a lot of nature and wild animals on campus, as long as they are not aggressive”, she said. She hasn’t walked in the woods since the accident.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Interview with Health Services

Deer attacked seven people in the campus of the Southern Illinois University in June. The school put up warning signs to tell people to be careful. It never happened before in Carbondale, because the deer ran away if people got close to them. The deer’s population which lives in the campus is increasing now. The construction occupied the forests , so the deer have to move in to the campus. It is a very unusual deer attack.

I have interviewed with Kim, who works in the Health Services. In this time, the female deer just wants to protect her baby, so she will be afraid of people who are close. After the accidents happened, the school put a cordon around the area. The school also put the news on television , news paper and other media. The school tried to make everyone know about the accident and told people to keep away from the area. Kim thinks the school doesn’t have any responsibilities. Because the deer are the wildlife : there is no way to control them. If the student gets hurt , it only costs six dollars for an x-ray, bandage and medical care. Next year, the school will probably put more information out in the media and look around more.

Newstalk : Interview with T. Newman (Ecologist)

In the middle of June, seven people were attacked in the campus of Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Instead of human, this time it was the deer that attacked. However, according to the reporter Monique Garcia, Clay Nielsen, an ecologist, claimed that deer would not keep being aggressive once the fawning season came to an end. The university’s police department did not have any plan to kill the deer or put them somewhere else.

To learn more about the deer attack event, I interviewed T. Newman, an ecologist in the Department of Forestry. She thought people should stop calling deer “violent”, because we should not call mothers who were trying to protect their children violent. She interpreted this event as the consequence of the social relationship between human and deer, and the reason as “human encroachment”. According to Newman, the first victim touched the fawns and made deer alerted, thus during the period, the does would not give anyone else a chance to come any closer. The only way to protect ourselves from the attacks of deer is to leave them alone. Do not touch them. After all, just like what Newman asserted, “People should know who their neighbors are, and who they share the land with. We should learn how to live with them, not hoping for them to leave.”

Interview with Todd Sigler SIU Police Department

“Deer Attacks” was one of the most popular headlines news at SIU Carbondale two months ago related to violent events facing with a few deer. According to the majority of news published online, 7 people were injured on the SIUC campus including students, campus visitors and members of the official SIUC staff near the wooded paths. People involved with SIUC community were concerned about different kinds of reports that informed for example “Deer Attacks Continue” by H. Murray, Jun, 14, 2005 or “Deer attacks at SIUC hospitalize 4” by M. Garcia, June, 6, 2005. However, Hayle Murray prepared one of the most significant reports from Daily Egyptian on Wednesday, June 15, 2005. This article discussed the biggest reason deer reacted in this aggressive way. Also, Clay Nielson -who works in the SIUC Cooperative Wildlife Research Lab- and Todd Sigler -Director of the Department of Public Safety- evaluated the meaning of fawning seasons during a conference press. Once these events happened, SIUC officials, Wildlife Ecologists, and Police Department, shared their impressions to figure out next actions in terms of deciding what to do in case of the occurrence of more incidents.

In this sense, the mentioned above was the main reason to continue looking for more details about this project, and an excellent opportunity to talk with native speakers. I think that I was lucky because I exchanged ideas with Todd Sigler, who is Director of the Department of Public Safety. He explained to me several things such as “Deer attacks were uncommon problems this year, and this department does not have any previous data or statistics about them because it is a recent and growing inconvenience related to deer population.” In addition he said, because this is not a specific police issue, we do not have any technical procedure that implies to follow step by step. Yet, four important things we have in mind. First, we will not probably participate in relocating or using lethal weapons against deer because it is not part of our job. Second, only if a person is involved in an emergency time, we will participate in a police procedure. Next, we are already prepared to work with media office on campus in order to post cautions about Deer as signs. Finally, we will work with notification in early May to remind every one what happens next month. Also, “my advice or warning for SIU student and campus visitors facing a deer is leave it alone, and be aware how many there in the woods”, he said.

In conclusion, I can say that after realizing my development in English, I feel a little more self-confident because this assignment was one of the most challenging CESL activities in this term for four reasons: demanding specific information, introducing a necessity, talking with a friendly speaker, and being familiar with the topic are primary keys to being successful in learning a second language. Also, tanks CESL and tanks Todd Sigler.

Friday, July 22, 2005

Deer attacks continue

In this article, Deer attacks continue, from Daily Egyptian, Murray.H reports that deer attacked six people on SIU campus. In one case, when traffic stopped and two people urged a doe and a fawn to cross the street. However, the doe felt danger and attacked. According to ecologist, a fawn is very young and can’t escape from danger at that time. Therefore, a doe is more aggressive and try to defend her baby (Murray.H June 14, 2005 para.8). Lastly, he advises students. "Do not approach wild animals, no matter how cute and cuddly they are" (para.11).

I was very surprised to see a deer on campus forest for the first time. And I thought that it is because there is a lot of nature in America and thought "How wonderful!" However, I didn’t know this problem. In my opinion, we can live together in campus. From different point of view, here is the safest place because there are few cars near the forest. It is good surrounding rather than other forest. In order to prevent such accident, some caution should be mentioned. Above all, it is the most important for us to be more careful during the fawning season.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Fawning season to blame for deer attacks

This article, Fawning season to blame for deer attacks, reports that SIUC’s officials and an ecologist discussed their impressions about the deer attacks occurred in campus in terms of the actions that the University implemented and the biological reasons that might motivated the attacks. While reporting the seventh attack and stating that neither lethal nor moving-out steps would be implemented against the animals, the director of the Department of Public safety described the informative campaign they ran to aware both visitors and other camps about the incidents. On the other hand, a wildlife ecologist explained that the attack might have occurred mainly because of the fawning season and the protective instincts of the does. In the fawning season, births increase and mothers react instinctively against any potential enemy for their fawns (e.g. humans). In addition, as wild species, people should not surround deer even either if they are adults or they are out of birth season.

In my opinion, we should be aware of two things when dealing with this “accident”: First, it was just an accident, and second, we should learn to live along with animals. It was an accident because how many attacks have occurred? To the best of my knowledge, such attacks do not occur frequently. Therefore, isolated attacks should not worry anybody. On the other hand, when it comes to animals learning their nature, necessities, and potential aggressiveness turns to capture our attention. In learning animal’s behavior, we might handle why these events occur (e.g. during fawning season). Consequently, no special policy but a different attitude results necessary when coping with such accidents.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

On-campus deer attacks prompt warnings

Is it dangerous for take a walk in the woods?The deer and the doe attacked seven people in the campus of the Southern Illinois University. This accident happens very rare, so it is difficult to cope with the situation.The female deer have tied in fawning season for avoid an accident. According the research, there are more and more deer in the campus. A lot of building occupied the woods, so the deer have to live in the campus. The school has a warning which student should be careful when walking in the wood’s paths.

It’s very dangerous when you walk in the wood’s path. No one knows when the animal appears in the woods. The school’s warning is not enough to protect the student. The school should talk the deer’s attack seriously, not just a “sign”. The Government also have to solve the problems, otherwise someone will get hurt in the campus again.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Deer attacks at SIUC hospitalize 4

The article "Deer attacks at SIUC hospitalize 4" by Monique Garcia portrays the deer attack event in Southern Illinois University Carbondale. From June 7, 2005 on, deer had attacked seven people in the campus within 9 days (Garcia, M., Jun. 6, 2005, Para. 5). Among the seven injured, four was sent to hospital (Para. 5). Experts said during the climax of the fawning season, which lasts from June 1 to June 10, female deer will become fierce in order to protect baby deer (Para. 11). But it will be nearly impossible for deer attack to take place after the season passed (Para. 11).

It is horrifying to learn that there are such violent deer inside the campus. And the number of deer that did the attacks is possibly more than one (Para. 9). Since two weeks ago when I arrived here, I have been dreaming about wandering through the Thompson Woods and visiting the Campus Lake. But the hope now seems to be dangerous. I really hope that I can have a tour all the way through the campus before I leave, without meeting a terrible deer.